"I just woke up one day and it was taken out of hands. I had no control. I couldn't work, I couldn't speak to clear my name because of legal reasons. I just had to sit in silence just being bashed left, right and centre by the media - and being portrayed as a monster."

Contostavlos said that the ordeal has made her a "paranoid wreck", and she feels like she's "always looking over [her] shoulder".

"I locked myself off a lot from the world so there were only a few people that could contact me," she continued. "Marvin and Rochelle [Humes] are two people that really had my back throughout - and Niall [Horan] and Rylan [Clark]."

The former X Factor judge also said she believes that class played a part in drug allegations.

"I've openly admitted to smoking weed," she reiterated. "There are a lot of people in this industry that have dabbled in cocaine and I am one of the very few that haven't and don't.

"To me it feels a bit of a class thing as well. There are certain people of a different class that can get off very lightly in certain situations and it gets laughed off.

"With me everything gets made to feel a lot worse - because of the class thing - because at times I do get shown as a bit of a rebel of the industry but I am actually quite the opposite."

Contostavlos is unsure about how the allegations will affect her future too, adding: "I have no idea what is going to happen - no idea how the public will feel about me coming back. I've been portrayed as a monster. I'm going to try and go back to what I love again."